TORONTO — A tentative agreement has been reached in contract negotiations aimed at averting a strike at the Toronto Star, Canada's largest circulation newspaper.

The deal came around 2 p.m. Saturday, following six days of intense mediated talks between Torstar Corp. and the union representing staff at the newspaper.

"Both sides had to compromise,'' union representative Maureen Dawson said in a release.

"But we think the outcome is an acceptable alternative to a long, bitter strike that would have done serious harm to our paper.''

Bob Hepburn, a spokesman for TorStar, said the company was pleased that talks resulted in an agreement.

"We think it reflects the constructive relationship between the Star and our staff,'' he said Saturday.

Star publisher Jagoda Pike called the deal a "historic agreement.''

"I thank both the company and union bargaining teams for their outstanding work and perseverance in the face of significant challenges,'' she said in a release.

Details of the tentative agreement won't be released until after a ratification vote expected this coming week.

On Wednesday, unionized workers at the newspaper voted 96 per cent in favour of authorizing union executives to call a strike if a contract agreement couldn't be reached by midnight Friday.

The negotiations, mediated by former Ontario Superior Court judge George Adams, went on through the night Friday and resumed early Saturday, Hepburn said.

The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada represents 765 Star employees, including staff in editorial, circulation and advertising.

The union had said talks focused on seniority, benefit cutbacks and changes or elimination of overtime and weekend pay. Also included in negotiations was language on the responsibilities of reporters filing online multimedia content.

The base rate for senior reporters at the Toronto Star newspaper is $1,476.90 a week, or nearly $77,000 a year.

A strike was last called by the newspaper's union in 1992.

Falling circulation numbers and the proliferation of Internet readers have sent shockwaves through the North American newspaper industry in recent years.

Last April, press workers at Le Journal de Quebec elected to strike after Sun Media Corp., a division of Quebecor Media, locked out 140 editorial and office staff. Talks recently resumed for the first time since the strike began.

Newspapers in the United States have arguably been hit even harder by declining readership and advertising revenues.

Torstar owns the Toronto Star, the Hamilton Spectator and other Ontario dailies, the Metroland community papers in southern Ontario as well as Internet properties, including thestar.com, Toronto.com, LiveDeal.ca and Workopolis.

Torstar Corp., with more than 7,200 employees at the end of 2006, also owns Harlequin Enterprises, the world's biggest publisher of romance fiction.